Our collective 2022

And just like that, 2021 is over and 2022 has begun.

My social media feeds are full of the new this, new you, new us, better than before, 100% best version of yourself, grateful for "insert here", 2022 is my year - pseudo self-affirming babble - which somehow ends up both slightly inspirational and slightly shaming at the same time.

While I want to wipe the proverbial slate clean and shake off the weight of the past two years and feel the lightness of a new start, the COVID-19 distortion lingers.

The Omicron wall is hitting all over, at the same time. I know so many people who are sick with Corona now - more than ever before. None of them are seriously ill, thankfully. But, I feel that lurking around the corner, in the dark part that you can't quite see yet, is the next virus ready to strike just when we feel like our new normal will start.

What is the new normal? Just as we started to feel good about moving out in public again with our masks on, but with less fear of getting Corona, Omicron has reminded us that viruses are unpredictable and highly adaptable.

It's the adaptable piece that has me thinking about how we need to be going forward.

I don't think it will be new normal. I think it will be the new normals - with an "s".

We need to be more adaptable in how we interact, what we are willing to do to keep ourselves, others and the planet safe, how we go about our daily lives.

What has two years of COVID-19 helped me realise?

1. That we don't need as much stuff as we thought we did. From objects in our house, to clothes we wear, to things we buy to fill the space and time we have, I realised we need less of it. Less of all of it.

2. That every interaction with someone else has a real consequence. I don't only mean the fact that I can pass on sickness to you, or you can pass it on to me. I mean, that our interactions with each other help us to be mentally healthy and strong. And that they can also cause despair and pain. So we should try to make each interaction a positive - or at the very least - a neutral one.

3. That our shared earth is really one big ecosystem. We all are part of life on this planet - writ large. We are intertwined in ways we don't understand and cannot fathom. We all contribute to how the system of life on this planet functions - even if we cannot see those ways or if they are not instantly obvious to us. No, this is not esoteric.

I care deeply about sustainability and the future of the planet. The time spent isolated from others in lockdown and observing how the virus has taken hold and how it moves and weaves its way through all of our societies, has helped me realise even more about the system we are all part of us and how great our responsibility is to make sure it exists in balance for millennia to come.

“Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?”

MIT professor of meteorology, Edward Lorenz, postulated that small changes could have far greater and unpredictable impacts further along the line in a system. This has come to be known in casual conversation as the butterfly effect. Through the course of the time I have had to reflect during these past two COVID years, the butterfly effect has become a bit of a Leitfaden for me. I understand that we all have a responsibility to ensure when we flap our wings, we are having a positive impact in our own systems - however we define them.

With that in mind, I vow to be more aware, more conscientious, and more thoughtful about my role in our collective time here on earth. I hope you will consider that, too.

Here's to a positive, enriching, and healthy 2022.